Student hairstylist from northwestern, Ont. reaches top 5 in Canada

Raised in a small town in northwestern Ontario, Laura Metansinine never dreamed she would be named as one of the top five student hairstylists in Canada.

The national Contessa Awards, presented by Salon magazine, were handed out November 12  in Toronto, and although Metansinine didn't take home the number one prize, her name and creative up-dos made it onto the top 5 list in the Student Apprentice Hairstylist category.

"I'm still super overwhelmed, it's kind of surreal and I'm not sure when it's ever going to ever feel real," Metansinine says.

She grew up in in Marathon, Ont., on the north shore of Lake Superior, but Metansinine now works, lives and learns from her mentor at Maria Bikas Salon in London, Ont. 

Metansinine said she's passionate about being a hairstylist because "you can be creative in making people feel great about themselves."

During the summer, Metansinine said she did a photo shoot for three different, but cohesive, hairstyles and submitted them for the awards.

In September, Metansinine's surpassed her own expectations when she made the top 10 list.  Then, in October, was even more surprised and excited to learn that she had been named as one of the five finalists. 

"My goal from the beginning was...just to be there," Metansinine said, "even if you are attending the awards, the motivation and inspiration you get from everybody else, is so incredible."

For her first year entering the national competition, Metansinine said she made many sketches and played with many different ideas, but said she couldn't have done it without the support from her mentor as well as the hair models.

In one case, "we just had to lighten up her ends and put the fun colours on like a temporary dye," Metansinine said.

"We actually went old school with an old perm wrap and she was an amazing model, she stuck through and slept with the wrap in her head." 

If that wasn't enough, Metansinine also did the models makeup herself with the help of her mentor, because she "knew what she wanted and she trusted her gut."

Although Metansinine no longer lives in Marathon, she said she's blown away by all the support she's received thus far.

"I haven't worked back home, but I have a lot of demand and a lot of people are always begging me to come back," Metansinine said happily.

You can hear more from Laura Metansinine here